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For what is a relatively minor portion of the story? where does it stop? two episodes for this, two episodes for that, next thing you know we'd need 50+ episodes just to keep people happy.

Minor portion of the story? How is the introduction of the heroine who is clearly going to be an important and influential figure minor? What about her origin? It adds to her character to know how she was at first, which heavily got axed to the point of the anime viewers not knowing what she's really like.

What would you think if certain elements of Kirito's past in the game were axed? Those aren't any more relevant to the story than Asuna's starying. (which is to say, they're both important)

Alas, that's starting to stretch beyond the anime territory. But either way from a novel or anime PoV, this episode was way too rushed.

To be honest, I wasn't sure whether doing this in chronological order is really a good idea. So Kawahara sitting in the meetings doesn't necessary mean that everything will go well. This episode is kind of boring to me, and there's hardly any impact...... If I were an anime-only watcher, I might have dropped it already, since I'm not really into MMORPGs and games...... The only thing I care about SAO are the characters and the psychological aspects...... Well, not that I care much about the anime anyway (*goes back to reading v10 ).

It's still pretty good episode, even if they did cut alot from it, but that was kinda expected anyway, most of Aria was pretty pointless to turn into anime anyway.

Glad they still kept main points from that short story, Beater, which is probably one of the most important things in this setting, and they did do it pretty good too. And they even kept Kibaou's kansai dialect.

And dam I like Agil's voice now :c

Not the same perfect episode like the first one was, but it definitely wasn't bad.

Sure some things were cut, but I think you all are exaggerating the impact of those scenes.

Spoiler for comparison to the novels:

The things that were dropped like the Rat and the bath scene were clearly not important to the overall scheme of things. The Rat wasn't even seen in the main story.

Even the rushing wasn't that bad. After all, this was a side story from the web novel. It wasn't even in the main novels. Not surprising that they want to get to the meat of things. We should be grateful they even chose to animate that part.

The only thing im concerned about and I need to wait for the subs to confirm is why Kirito chose to play the bad guy at the end, considering the absence of The Rat(covering for her was his motivation in the original).

The things they cut are important. The main story Asuna doesn't strike me as a good girl because she just pop out of no where. But the even here should introduced that they knew each other since almost the beginning of the game and also Kirito is the one who saved Asuna. They also removed/changed the part with the knight guy who wants to Last Hit the boss. He is deceiving them not helping them. Though he helps them he has ulterior motives. They also removed the trade part which highlights that the knight guy is really a schemer. They lower the tension between the beta tester and the official players problem on this episode. They also removed the reason of why Kirito is so hung up on the idea of blaming everything on the beta tester. He knew his sins for abandoning them and start running onto the first village and also he knew that some people are blaming the beta testers for the death of the players. Indeed in the story most of the beta players rush into the first village and leave the starting city but some stay and even help the players. And also the reason of the high death rate is because some people are underestimating the game and just thinking that its "just another game" to them which mostly compose of veteran players.

The scene with Asuna that's been shafted is really important for character development.

Wow this episode was rushed as hell. Have to say but i think the entire boss fight was ruined and removed a lot of what made aria so good in the first place. I seriously hope the rest of the series is not as rushed as this episode was.

Can't stop watching the episode starting when they enter the Kobold King's lair up to its defeat. That whole segment is filled with great music and animation (and yes, some still shots and speedlines to save budget). And with Kirito earning his black coat SAO has finally started, now it's time to get that black sword as well to complete the set.

Asuna is delicious and, not being familar with the source material apparently a fanservice scene was omitted? They better fix that later...

Did Kirito act like villainy as a way to unite the rest of the players? Or just so none of the other players would bother him since he's more of a solo guy? It wasn't really properly explained or done well.

Also, Asuna's dumb gamer girl thing didn't exactly mesh well. You really didn't notice that party members names were in the upper left? You ever play any online games before? da fuq...SAO was supposed to be a very prestigious and limited MMO that probably only core gamers would get. Yet, Asuna seems like a total noobie, besides her "sword skillz".

Also, Asuna acting like cold and silent the entire episode, and then all of a sudden goes dere dere at the very end? HUH?!

Not quite as good as the first episode, but for a sophomore slump inconvenienced with minor pacing problems, it was still strong. Pacing problems aside, I really liked the continued world building (the guide book is a nice touch, and I still love the menu system as a plot device), I also like the continued development of Kirito and the introduction of new characters was pretty good (I have no idea what the 'rat' or a sauna scene are, nor do I really care (and I'm currently debating whether I should even allow such discussion)). The fight scene was also well done (great music, in fact the incidental music is overall quite good, even if I don't necessarily the the OP/ED) and the continued tension of the possibility of death still feels relevant and always present.

All in all, strong episode that works well off of the great premier, even if it is a bit muddled. Can't wait to see what happens next. 8/10.

I also like the continued development of Kirito and the introduction of new characters was pretty good (I have no idea what the 'rat' or a sauna scene are, nor do I really care (and I'm currently debating whether I should even allow such discussion)).

Talking about specific scenes may be going a bit far, but it should be okay to talk about the crunching and pacing problems.

Quote:

p.s. what is an "Aria" in the context of this show?

It's the name of the novel side story that this episode is (not-terribly-awesomely) based on.